This invention relates to pulling tools in general and specifically to bearing pullers.
In the air conditioning and heating fields today, the state of the art utilizes many air handlers consisting of fan, filter and coil assemblies. The majority of all fan sections built by many different manufacturers are almost identical in the treatment of bearing placement and support method, as illustrated in details in FIGS. 3-6.
Due to the number of these fan systems being utilized, normal maintenance procedures would dictate that many of the fan bearings would require occasional replacement.
As a conventional puller tool is normally used to provide the removing force required, many fan systems are damaged by the puller action on the bearing housing or bearing housing support assembly.
Referring to FIG. 5, it is obvious that a standard puller tool, which is used to break loose the frozen or corroded contact area between the bearing inner race and the shaft or the area between the rubber isolation grommet and the bearing housing which is frozen to the aging and setting of the rubber isolation grommet 14, will contact the bearing housing 7 with the puller extension arms. This is a normal method of breaking a bearing loose which many times results in a damaged bearing housing 7 or a distorted bearing housing support assembly 8.
The puller device of the present invention eliminates the possibility of damaging the bearing housing or bearing housing support assembly during bearing removal by transmitting the necessary puller force, required to dislodge the bearing, directly to the inner race of the bearing without contacting the bearing housing or support assembly. This results in a much truer and more reliable maintenance technique.